Helicopter Will Conduct Black Fly Spray

Provided by the Bucks County Department of Health:

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection will be conducting an aerial black fly suppression operation on Wednesday, July 9, on the Delaware and Lehigh rivers and the Tohickon Creek.

The operations will begin after 8 a.m. at Washington’s Crossing and will include flights in Bucks, Lehigh, and Northampton counties.

The helicopter used for these operations will be a Bell OH58+ with tail number N659HA and is grey with blue and red stripes.

Spray operations will specifically take place within the following sections of each river:

• Delaware River between Slateford in Northampton County and the area near Trenton and Yardley in Bucks County.

• Lehigh River between the confluence of the Delaware River and Allentown

• Tohickon Creek between Point Pleasant and Route 611

Helicopter Applicators Inc. will be dispersing Vectobac 12AS, which is a Bti product manufactured by Valent Biosciences. Bti is short for Bacillus thuringiensis var. israilensis, which is a bacterial larvicide, not a chemical, and is the only product used in Pennsylvania’s waterways for black fly suppression. Vectobac 12AS is a brown liquid with a fish oil odor. The helicopter will fly low near tree top level and will release the Vectobac at various predetermined positions on each stream. Vectobac is not toxic to fish or other aquatic organisms.

Please note that this work does NOT involve a helicopter spraying over the entire county and applications will only occur on the specific waterways listed in this notice. Any questions about this operation may be directed to me and more information regarding the PA Black Fly Suppression Program can be found on our website at Black Fly (pa.gov)

For those interested in learning more about the black fly program visit https://www.dep.pa.gov/BlackFly

To gain a better understanding of the operation, you can watch this video provided by PA DEP https://youtu.be/e7f2aL_bI5g

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